Seattle fans especially appreciate a good DH, having watched franchise icon Edgar Martinez excel at the role for years before retiring in 2004. He ranks third with 1,607 hits as a DH.

"I used to love watching Edgar and Harold Baines hit,'' Ortiz said. "Now to have your name mentioned right next to theirs, it's a wonderful thing.''

Ortiz has a direct link to the only club Martinez played for. He signed his first pro contract with the Mariners as a teenager out of the Dominican Republic in 1992, but Seattle traded him to the Minnesota Twins in September 1996 as the player to be named later in the deal for third baseman Dave Hollins.

At the time, of course, he had yet to become Big Papi, the beloved big man who is headed next week for his ninth All-Star Game. It wasn't until he joined the Red Sox as a free agent in 2003 – the Twins non-tendered him – that the Ortiz legend began.

Even though he's 37, it shows no signs of diminishing, which is why Boston manager John Farrell said before the game that he did not regard the DH hit record as particularly significant.

"It's a number, and that number is going to continue to climb because he's a hell of a hitter,'' Farrell said. "What he means to this organization, to the city of Boston, is far-reaching beyond tonight's box score.

"But it's not a surprise. This is a damn good hitter that's gotten better with age, particularly against left-handed pitchers. And I think before it's all said and done, he's going to be the standard by which all the DHs are compared to.''

In the third inning, Ortiz blasted a two-run homer to right that wasn't greeted quite as warmly as the record-setter by the crowd, except for the sizable contingent of Red Sox supporters at Safeco.

The home run was Ortiz's eighth hit in his last nine at-bats. He finished the game with a .331 batting average and leads the team with 19 homers and 65 RBI despite missing the first three weeks of the season recovering from a heel injury.